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A BRIEF CHRONOLOGY OF MAJOR EVENTS IN THE GREAT WARAugust, 1914
1 Outbreak of World War I; German declaration of
war on Russia
4 Wilson proclaims US neutrality
January, 1915
18 Japan's Twenty-One Demands on China
May, 1915
7 Lusitania sunk by German U-boat off Irish coast
23 Italy declares war on Austria-Hungary
July, 1915
21 Wilson sends notes to Secretary of War Garrison and
Secretary
of Navy Daniels directing them to draft
a defense program
January, 1916
27 Wilson launches nationwide whistle-stop campaign to
generate
support for Preparedness and the
Continental Army with three
speeches in New York
February, 1916
3 Wilson delivers final speech of Preparedness campaign
in Saint
Louis
March, 1916
9 Pancho Villa's raid on Columbus, New Mexico
15 Pershing starts pursuit of Villa into Mexico
April, 1916
27 Marshal Lord Kitchener, British Secretary of State for War,
asking for American military participation
in Europe
July, 1916
29 US Marines land in Haiti
November, 1916
7-9 Wilson wins reelection, which was in doubt until the
California returns
28 First Germany airplane raid on London
29 US occupation of Santa Domingo proclaimed
January, 1917
10 Allies state war objectives in response to Wilson's
peace note
of 18 December
31 Germany announces resumption of unrestricted U-boat warfare
February, 1917
1 Germany resumes unrestricted U-boat warfare
3 US severs relations with Germany
26 Wilson requests authority from Congress to arm US merchant
ships
March, 1917
12 Wilson announces arming of merchant ships by executive
order
20 Wilson's Cabinet votes unanimously for war
29 War College Division issues report: Calls for large
force of between 500,000 and 1,000,000 -- and optimistically
estimates that at least ten months would be
required to ship a force of 500,000 to Europe once it was raised and trained,
putting the earliest effects of US involvement
in mid- to late-1918; openly plans to send US force overseas, but argues
against offensives through Macedonia or Holland;
repeats opposition to sending an untrained American army overseas;
Wilson publicly calls for a national army
to be "raised and maintained exclusively by selective draft"
April, 1917
2 Wilson delivers war address to Congress at 8:32
pm
6 US declares war on Germany
May, 1917
18 Selective Service Act signed by Wilson
June, 1917
26 First US troops (1st Division) arrive in France
November, 1917
7 Bolsheviks seize power in Russia
December, 1917
7 United States and Austria-Hungary at war
9 Jerusalem captured by British
22 Central Powers and Soviets open peace negotiations at
Brest-Litovsk
January, 1918
8 Wilson's Fourteen Points speech to joint session
of Congress
February, 1918
11 Wilson's Four Principles speech to joint session of
Congress
March, 1918
3 Soviet Russia and Central Powers make peace with
Treaty of
Brest-Litovsk
May, 1918
25 German U-boats make their first appearance in US waters
September, 1918
4 American troops land at Archangel in North
Russia
29 Bulgaria signs armistice
October, 1918
3-4 Germans and Austrians send notes to Wilson requesting an
armistice
November, 1918
11 Armistice goes into effect at 11 AM, the eleventh day
of the eleventh
month
18 Wilson announces that he will attend peace conference
personally
December, 1918
13 Wilson aboard the liner George Washington arrives at
Brest, France
January, 1919
5 Sparticist (Communist) revolt begins in Berlin
18 Peace negotiations start at Paris
25 Peace conference accepts principle of League of Nations
June, 1919
28 Treaty of Versailles signed in Hall of Mirrors at Versailles
Military Casualties in
World War I
1914-1918
Belgium
45,550
British Empire 942,135
France
1,368,000
Greece
23,098
Italy
680,000
Japan
1,344
Montenegro
3,000
Portugal
8,145
Romania
300,000
Russia
1,700,000
Serbia
45,000
United States 116,516
Austria-Hungary 1,200,000
Bulgaria
87,495
Germany
1,935,000
Ottoman Empire 725,000